


Luna, the Little Princess

by lilolilyrae



Category: A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1900s, Alternative Universe - A Little Princess, Boarding School, Daydreaming, Gen, a little princess au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:24:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21760861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilolilyrae/pseuds/lilolilyrae
Summary: London, 1905. The young daughter of a rich explorer, having travelled the world with her father all her life, must go to school now- and while being apart from her father pains her, she soon finds friends among her fellow students, despite- or maybe because of- her eccentric nature...The Harry Potter characters live through a (still magical) A Little Princess AU, with Luna as the main character.
Relationships: Luna Lovegood & Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood & Moaning Myrtle, Neville Longbottom & Luna Lovegood
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I never watched any A Little Princess movie or series, but the original book has always been one of my favorites- I got it (the German version) from the library countless times as a kid, and have recently re-read it and, due to reading and writing a lot of HP fanfic at the same time, noticed how similar Luna and Sara are... So I got this idea :D  
> This won't just be a insert-different-names copy paste thing, I'll actually keep the magical world mostly intact, just with a different setting when it comes to time, place, and general everything really xD also I still only have the German version of the book in front of me, so it'll be a bit of a translation exercise for me :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2019-12-11  
> This first chap is just the introduction of the characters, so everyone who already knows the story won't get confused about who's who :)
> 
> The book has 19 chapters and is about 60k long if google is to be believed, so I think this is going to be about the same length, maybe a bit longer if I add in some more magic :D

**Luna Lovegood - Sara Crewe**

**Xenophilius Lovegood - Crewe Sr**  
(I changed his character and therefore that part of the story a lot from canon Crewe bc I'd rather keep Lovegood's character intact and I can't see him as a soldier, and I didn't want to write about anyone else as or instead of Luna's dad)

**Neville Longbottom - Ermengarde St John**

**Frank Longbottom and Augusta Longbottom - St John Senior** (I decided to stick to Neville's parents not being around, so Augusta Longbottom comparing him to his deceased father replaces St John comparing Ermengarde to himself)

**Harry Potter - Rebecca (Becky)**

**Bellatrix Black - Miss Minchen**  
I did think about using Narcissa instead of Bellatrix here because the Miss is really just bitter and mean and not necessarily evil, but I read so many Good!NarcissaBlackAUs recently that I don't think I could properly write her as the bad guy rn... So have a relatively tame Bellatrix instead!

 **Sybill Trelawney - Miss Amelia**  
(Yes I'm aware they're supposed to be sisters and Andromeda and Narcissa are Right There but Trelawney as Amelia was just the first thing that popped into my mind and I can't unsee it xD) 

**Draco Malfoy - Lavinia**

**Pansy Parkinson - Jessy**

**The Weasleys - The Big Family** (or whatever Sara calls them in English, sorry Google wasn't helpful)

 **Aurélie Dumont** \- idk who she is but Harry Potter wiki says she's another French person - as the french nanny **Mariette**

**Remus Lupin - Monsieur Dufarge**

Also as you may have noticed I didn't give a fuck about keeping the right gender, but rather about keeping the HP characters around! Thus the school in question won't be an all girl school, but with how small the wizarding population is that makes more sense anyway.

And that's not the only thing I've changed- a dog called **Frances** (homage to the og author as well as- hey, kudos to whoever remembers who Francis was in HP xD) is taking the place of the doll called **Emily**. I just couldn't see Luna with a doll, she's more into living things. I did consider giving her a more magical pet, but that would make some of the plotlines and discussions around Frances hard, so I opted for a doggo :)

I still don't know who to take for **Mr Carrisford** \- that would be either a fellow researcher of Lovegood or some magical business person in my story, and either way someone who knows Arthur Weasley- and his servant **RamDass** \- ideas are welcome!

Same for the youngest student **Lottie** (4y/o) and **the cook** who I believe doesn't have a canon name?

Also, yes I noticed **Hermione** isn't in this story yet! O.o how did that happen! When I noticed that she's missing I fleetingly thought about making her the main character instead of Luna- she has Sara's bookishness for sure- but I think the fact that Sara is always dreaming and making up stories fits better to Luna. So, who is Hermione going to be? If I & yall can't think of anyone, I'll have to make up an oc...  
UPDATE 19-12-12: I think I'll have her in place of the poor beggar girl **Anne** :) well, I still have time to decide as she would only show up at the end of the story that way.

I'm also still contemplating about whether the town or street the school is in should be entirely magical or not, and if not- is the statute of secrecy already in place? Decisions, decisions... We'll see!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interested? Let me know & I'll keep you posted when I upload the first chap!
> 
> I decided not to add warnings to this fic- I think it would be too spoilery- and I think nothing tooo bad happens, but if you want to know about any particular trigger or anything at all, leave a comment and I'll let you know whether it's safe to proceed!


	2. Luna

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2019-12-12  
> I thought about changing the means of transportation to more magical things, but I figured the distance is too far to apparate, portkeys were probably not institutionalised yet then (and even if- Xenophilius Lovegood would probably prefer the long journey via ship).
> 
> & I now decided some things I was still thinking about last chapter: the statute of secrecy is in place, but the street the school is on is entirely magical.

On a dusky winter day, as yellow fog was hanging so thick and heavy on the streets of London that lights had to be turned on in the early afternoon, a little girl was sitting in a horse drawn carriage that slowly made its way through the big city.

She had her legs pulled under herself, huddled closely to the father as if looking for protection. She looked outside at the passerbys with a look of odd, precocious thoughtfulness in her big eyes. No-one would have expected such a look on such a small face, as Luna Lovegood- that was her name- was only seven years old. It was, however, the case, that she was often lost in her thoughts thinking up the most curious things. She couldn't remember a time where she hadn't already thought about the adults and the world they all lived in. Sometimes, she got the feeling that she must have already been alive a long, long time ago.

At the moment, her thoughts were drawn to her father, Xenophilius Lovegood, and the journey that was now behind them. It seemed like an eternity had passed since they started out in Bombay. Yet, the experiences of the journey itself were still fresh in her mind, and she thought about the big white ship, the Indian sailors, wizards and non-magical folk alike, the children playing on deck, and the young women that kept trying to talk to her only to laugh at what she had to say. 

She thought about how strange it was how not so long ago she had been under the hot sun of India, where magical and nonmagical people lived together in peace, then she had been in the middle of the ocean, and now she was in this strange muggle contraception driving them through the dark city where no-one but wizards and witches themselves even knew about magic, and where the day was almost as dark as the night. She found all this so confusing that she moved even close to her father.

"Papa" she said in a quiet, almost whispering voice.

"Yes, Luna-my-love?" asked Xenophilius, putting an arm around the shoulders of his daughter. "What are you thinking about, my little Luna?" 

"Is this the place?" Luna whispered.

"Yes, little Luna, this is it- we have finally arrived!"

Luna, who knew her father very well, knew that he was sad when he said this. It seemed to her like an eternity had passed since he started preparing her for 'the place', as she called it. Her mother died when she was too little to remember, but she had never missed her. Her nice, loving father seemed to be the only other person in the world for her. They had always played together, travelled together and loved each other. She only knew that he was rich because people talked about it when they thought she couldn't hear- and she had also heard that she would be rich as well once she was of age. She didn't really know what it _meant_ to be rich- she had always lived in nice bungalows or fancy tents with magically expanded space, even in the remotest locations of the world, she was used to seeing servants that bowed before her, called her 'Little Mistress Lovegood' and cater to her every whim. She had haf toys, pets and a nursemaid who adored her. And she had slowly learned that people who were 'rich' had all those thing- just like one has eyes, ears and a mouth. That, however, was all she knew about being wealthy. 

In Luna's short life, there had only been one thing that troubled her, and that was 'the place' she would one day be brought to. Constant travelling was not a life for a little lady to grow up, learn manners and, most importantly, learn to control her magic. She had always known that she would have to leave her father one day, and while the stories he had told her about his home country fascinated her, she was still sad that he couldn't stay with her.

"Can't you come with me to the place, Papa?" she had asked him many times when she had been five years old. "Can't you go to school, too?" 

"You won't have to stay long, little Luna!" he had tried to calm her. "You'll live in a pretty house with many other children in an entirely wizarding neighborhood, and you will play together and I am going to send you many books and reports about the places I travel to and the creatures I see... You are going to grow up so quickly, it will seem like only a year has passed until you are grown, clever and in control enough to return to me and join me on my travels again, if you still want to."

"Of course I'll still want to!"

That was a nice thought- to travel with her father, see the countries in Europe and Asia they hadn't travelled to before, maybe go to Africa or America, too, and go look for the creatures that were so interesting and _dangerous_ Xenophilius hadn't dared go on any such missions while his little girl had accompanied him in the past... That would be the most wonderful thing in the world for Luna. And if, to get to it, she had to go to England first, then she had to accept that.

She didn't care about the other little boys and girls in 'the place'. The books and travel reports her father had talked about, however, would bring her comfort. She loved books to bits, and she came up with her own stories about beautiful things, that she told to herself. Sometimes, she also told them to her father, and he liked them just as much as she did.

"Well then, Papa", she now said softly, "as we are already here, we have to comply."

He laughed at her precocious words and pressed a kiss to her little head. He himself thought differently, but knew that he couldn't says so out loud. His wondrous little Luna had always felt like an essential part of his life, and he knew that he would feel lonely when traveling in the future. 

Xenophilius hugged Luna close as the hackney drove through a magical barrier separating wizarding from muggle London, getting slower and finally coming to a stop in the big courtyard of the house that marked the end of their journey. It was a high brick house, just as dismal as all the other houses they had passed in the city, with the only difference being a brass sign posted to the front door that in turns showed the words

> **_Miss Bellatrix_ **
> 
> _Special school for young witches and wizards_

"Here we are, Luna" Mister Lovegood said, trying to sound as buoyant as possible. He lifted her out of the carriage, and together they climbed the stairs and he rung the doorbell.

Later, Luna often thought that the building was just like Miss Bellatrix- old and venerable and equipped with expensive furniture. But everything was dark and dusky, nothing bright or fun caught her eye. Even the portraits on the walls seemed subdued, serious and barely moving.

The salon she was lead into had a carpeted floor with a dark unmoving pattern of squares, and the armchairs all looked rather uncomfortable. Tentatively, Luna sat down in one of the stiff mahagoni chairs.

"I don't like it, Papa" she said, "but after all, even brave soldiers wouldn't _like_ to go to war."

At those words, Xenophilius had to laugh. Oh, his wonderful girl... He was young and full of joyfulness and he never got tired of listening to Luna's rather extraordinary utterances.

"Oh little Luna", he said, "What am I going to do when I don't have anyone to talk to me so meaningful anymore? No-one is as imaginative and solemn as you are."

"But why do imaginative and solemn things make you laugh?" Luna wanted to know.

"Because it's such fun to listen to you!" he answered and laughed even more, kissing her forehead with tears in his eyes.

Just in that moment, Miss Bellatrix entered the room.

She was a tall, strict-looking woman with cold eyes and an insincere smile. Looking at Luna and her father, that smile widened. She had heard a lot of things about the young explorer and knew that he was very wealthy and ready to pay a lot of money for his little daughter. The Lovegoods were purebloods, too, albeit not of the sacred twenty-eight, and little Luna Lovegood could grow up to be quite an influential woman if she so chose... Miss Bellatrix knew which people were important to stay friendly with, indeed.

"It will be an honour to take such a beautiful and promising child into my care, Mister Lovegood" she said, taking Luna's hand into her own. "I have been told about her unusual intelligence - a clever child is a big treasure in my house."

Lunar just stood there, staring into the face of Miss Bellatrix. 'Why does she call me beautiful?' she asked herself. 'I'm not beautiful at all- that French girl Fleur is beautiful. She has rosy cheeks and dimples and long, golden blonde hair. My hair always looks shaggy no matter how lunch the nannys brush it, I have funny-looking protuberant eyes and I'm too thin, not attractive at all. Miss Bellatrix starts to talk in unveracities.'

Luna was wrong in thinking that she was ugly. Well, she didn't look much like Fleur Delacour, who was indeed the most beautiful girl Luna had ever met on her travels, but she had her own unusual charm. She was graceful, pretty tall for her age and her face was likeable. Her hair was full and a wavy dark blonde, she had big, grey-blue eyes and while she didn't like them herself, many people considered them pretty. Still- she was convinced that she was an ugly child, so Miss Bellatrix' flatteries left her unaffected. 

Luna stayed with her father and listened to him talk to the Miss. She was to go to school here because Xenophilius and his late wife Pandora went to the same school many years ago, when a different Miss- the late mother of Miss Bellatrix- had been the head teacher. Luna was to be a salon guest, yes, was to get even more privileges than any other salon guests of the school. She was to have a pretty bedroom and her own living room, too, her own owl, an abraxan pony and a muggle horse carriage for outings beyond the wizarding street, and a new nanny as well.

"I'm not worried at all about her education," Xenophilius Lovegood said with a happy laugh while patting Luna's hand, "She knows what's important to learn in this world, and I'm afraid it will be harder to stop her from learning even more than that, too much and too fast!" 

Miss Bellatrix made a pinched face at that- she knew of Lovegood's tendency to follow conspiracies and stray from good wizarding tradition in general. But if the daughter was willing to learn more than just what the odd explorer considered necessary... Well, time would tell whether that was true.

"She's always burying her nose in a book," Xenophilius meanwhile continued, "not even reading but _devouring_ them, as if she were a wild griffin instead of a little girl! She's outright hungry for new books, and she wants books for adults- long, thick ones in French and German as well as in English- biology and history books, biographies, poetry, everything you can think of! Pull her away from her books, when she reads too much. I'm always able to get her away from them when I find some new creature or theory, but I'm sure if you let her ride her pony or go out with her new friends to buy some new toys and pets, she will be just fine."

"Papa" Luna said, "You know, if I go out and buy new toys every other day, I'd have too many to be happy about them. I need to play with my toys and learn to love them, and I only want a few pets who are real friends to me. Frances is supposed to be my familiar."

Mister Lovegood looked at Miss Bellatrix, and Bellatrix looked questioningly back at him. "Who is Frances?" she wanted to know.

"Tell her, my Luna!" Xenophilius said with a smile.

Luna's grey-blue eyes were very solemn and soft as she replied:

"It's a pet that I don't have yet" she said, "a pet that Papa is going to buy for me. We are going to go out together and look for her. I already decided to call her Frances. She is going to be my friend when Papa isn't here anymore. I want to talk to her about him."

Miss Bellatrix laughed out loud. "Oh, what a witty child!" she said. "What a lovely little wisp!"

"Yes!" Xenophilius nodded and hugged Luna close. "She is a nice little wisp. Take good care of her, Miss Bellatrix!"

Luna stayed another few days in the hotel with her father, until his journey back to india. They ventured out together, looked through many big stores wizarding and non-magical alike, and bought a lot of things. They bought much more than Luna actually needed. But Xenophilius absolutely wanted his daughter to get whatever her heart desired, and so they bought cloaks and dresses much too sumptuous for a child of seven years. Velvet cloaks with hoods made out of expensive fur, lace dresses and silk dress robes, pearls and hats with colourful feathers, water-repellent embroidered cloaks, boxes of tiny self-heating gloves, handkerchiefs and silk stockings in such amounts that the people behind the counter whispered amongst each other how the strange little girl had to be some princess from abroad- maybe the daughter of an Indian Rajah.

All the while, they were looking for Frances. They saw a lot of pet shops and a magical menagerie, but Luna didn't particularly like any of the creatures and animals shown.

"I already have an owl" she said as they exited the menagerie, "and it's more a servant than a friend, really. I don't want a rat or a toad that only sits there and stares- I want an animal that can really listen to me when I talk to it, Papa. I believe, when I find Frances, I will _know_ that I have found her."

So they looked at more pets, big and small. Cats and rabbits and snakes and bowtruckles and dancing mice. After so many disappointments, they decided to walk for a while and let the carriage follow along behind them.

They got a few funny looks from the non-magical people around them- muggles, alumna remembered, they were called in this country. What a funny name!- whether because their self-heating cloaks seemed too thin for the weather in their eyes or because they had something inherently wizarding about them- or because they had never seen any foreigners before in general, Luna didn't _know. No, not foreigners, she reminded herself. My family is from this country, and now it shall be my home, too._

As they passed a small petshop, Luna stopped walking quite suddenly and tugged at her father's arm. "Oh, Papa!" she called out, "That is Frances!" 

Her cheeks reddened and her eyes had a look as if she had just recognised someone whom she had known and liked dearly.

"She's waiting for us!" she urged, "Let's go inside for her!" 

"Oh deary me" Xenophilius laughed, "I've got the feeling we need someone to introduce us!"

"You have to introduce me and I you" Luna suggested. "But maybe you don't have to- maybe Emily already knows me."

Yes, maybe Frances already knew her indeed. 

'Frances' was a little dog, just a pup in fact, with floppy ears and intelligent, knowing eyes. 

"Of course" Luna said and crouched down to be face to face with the puppy, "Of course this is Frances!" 

So Frances was purchased and with her everything a little dog could possibly need or want, food and toys and a little cot and even an entire doggy wardrobe, as England was often too cold for such animals to go outside without an extra layer of clothes. 

"You're going to learn a warming charm, of course" Xenophilius said as they were back inside the carriage with the dog, away from muggle ears, "But until you can cast one comfortably it's better not to try it on a living being." 

"I do know that, Papa!" Luna said immediately. "And I like the little clothes for Frances. I can dress her as if I were the mother of a little child- although I'd much rather have her be a friend to me.

Xenophilius would have liked to enjoy the shopping trip, but a sad thought was weighing him down. All this meant that he was soon going to be apart from his precious, wondrous Luna...

In the middle of the night, he got up and went to Luna's bed to watch her sleep, Frances in her arms, her yellow hair mixed with the dog's dark fur. Xenophilius was glad that his daughter had found her friend. He sighed deeply and tugged at his own long hair, deep in thought. 

"Oh, little Luna" he said to himself, "I think you have no idea how much your Papa is going to miss you."

The next day, he brought Luna to Miss Bellatrix as he had to clarify a few things with her- he especially wanted to ensure that Luna would her everything she wishes for.

After that, he went into Luna's little living room with bis daughter, and they said their farewells. Luna sat in bis lap, holding the hem of his cloak in her little hands and staring at his face quite intently. 

"Are you trying to figure me out, my little Luna?" he asked her, stroking her hair.

"No," she answered, "I know you completely by heart already. You're _in_ my heart." And they hugged and kissed as if they never wanted to be apart.

As the carriage started to leave, Luna was sitting on her living room floor, and her eyes were following the coach until it disappeared from view. Frances was sitting next to her, and she, too, was watching the carriage. 

When Miss Bellatrix sent her assistant, Miss Sybill Trelawney, to look after the child, miss Sybill found the door locked both mechanically and with a spell.

"I have locked it" a weirdly polite voice called from inside. "I would like to be alone right now, please."

Miss Sybill was small and shy and very much in awe of Miss Bellatrix. She was the kinder one of the two, but never dared to disagree with Miss Bellatrix. Perturbed, she walked down the stairs.

"I have never met such a strange child" she told Miss Bellatrix. "She locked herself in and doesn't make a sound."

"At least that's better than making a din, screaming and crying" Miss Bellatrix answered. "I would have expected such a spoiled child to throw the entire house into a turmoil. If any child ever got everything they asked for, it would have been this one."

"I opened her bags and put away her things," Miss Sybill said, "I've never seen such things before- cloaks with spells worthy of a minister or an auror, and underthings out of lace and real acrumantula-silk! All new with the descriptions still in the box! You've seen some of her dresses, what do you think?"

"I think it's entirely ridiculous." Miss Bellatrix replied sharply. "Although, when we go on outings through The Street, it would look impressive when she walked ahead... She's all fitted out like a little princess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think so far?


	3. A French Lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2019-12-22  
> Geez this chapter took me a while! Sorry! I've got too many projects running at the same time as always...

When Luna entered the classroom the next day, everyone was watching her with big, curious eyes.

Everyone- that is everyone from Draco Malfoy, Miss Bellatrix's nephew and the oldest student to little Myrtle Warren who was only four years of age and therefore the baby of the school. All of them of course were aware that she was Madam Bellatrix's model student and that it was a special honor for the school to have her as a pupil. 

One or two of them had already gotten a look at Luna's French Nanny, Aurélie, who had arrived the evening before. Draco had managed to peek inside the room and had seen Aurélie open a few boxes.

"There were loads of protective amulets-" he whispered to his friend Pansy, while they buried their noses in a transfiguration textbook- "my father says things like don't work at all. I wonder whether she's really stupid enough to believe in them or whether her father does- he's a nutter, my father says, and they're not real purebloods at all! And she has loads of cloaks and dresses- I heard Miss Bellatrix say that such clothes are ridiculous for a child... Look, she really is wearing one of those right now, I saw the chain around her neck!" 

"And she's wearing silk stockings!" Pansy whispered back, while pretending to read a book on the similarities and differences in wood and metal transformations. "And what tiny feet she has- I've never seen such tiny feet before." 

"Oh" Draco scoffed, "that's just her shoes. My mother says that when you have a good shoemaker, even big feet can look small. And she's not pretty at all. Her eyes are such a weird colour." 

"She's not pretty in the usual way," Pansy said while sneaking a look around the room, "but somehow, you have to keep looking at her! She has incredibly long lashes, and her eyes are almost sky-blue."

  


Luna was sitting in her chair, waiting for someone to tell her what she had to do. She had been placed close to Miss Bellatrix's desk. That all eyes were on her didn't embarrass her in the least. She was curious herself and looked around at the other children. She would have liked to know what they were thinking, whether they liked Miss Bellatrix and the school... One of the boys seemed to be infected by nargles, he was looking at her all funny. Gratefully, she touched her butterbeer cork necklace- her Papa had shown her how to make those when she had been five. She wondered whether any of the other students had a Papa as wonderful as her own... Earlier that morning, she had had a long talk with Frances about her Papa.

"He's at sea now, Frances." she had said. "We have to be good friends and tell each other everything. Frances! Look at me! Yes, that's a good dog! You have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen... But I do wish you could talk."

Luna was a child full of strange and peculiar thoughts, and one of these was, that it was very comforting to pretend like Frances, despite being an ordinary dog, could really understand everything she said.

When Aurélie had helped her dress in the dark blue school cloak and put a dark blue ribbon in her hair, she had gone to Frances, who would stay with the Nanny while Luna was in class, and put a book down next to the dog.

"You can read while I'm downstairs!" she had said, and when she noticed Aurélie's confused expression she explained very seriously: "I believe that animals can do things they don't tell us anything about. Maybe Frances is really able to read and speak and do magic, but only when no-one else is in the room! That's their secret. You know, if people knew, that animals can do all those things, we would make them work- maybe that's why they promised each other to keep it a secret!"

"Comme elle est drôle!" Aurélie said to herself. And she started to like this little, quirky child that had such a curious, intelligent face and that was so polite. Before this, she had been the nanny for children who weren't so polite. Luna was a very nice person and had an amiable, obliging way of saying "If you please" and "Thank you". It always sounded very charming. 

"Elle a l'air d'une princesse, cette petite" Aurélie then said to herself. And she started to enjoy her new little Lady and her new job.

  


After Luna had been so lost in her thoughts, sitting at her desk for a few minutes, watched by all the other students, Miss Bellatrix knocked commandingly on the teacher's desk. 

"My students," she said, "I want to introduce you to a new classmate of yours."

Everyone stood, and Luna got up, too. 

"I expect you all to be especially friendly to Miss Lovegood, she has travelled far- all the way from India, to be precise. As soon as classes are over, you can introduce each other." 

The students bowed very formally, and Luna curtseyed, then they all sat down again and went back to looking curiously at each other.

"Luna," Miss Bellatrix said in a didactic tone, "get to the front."

She had taken a book from her desk and was paging through it. Luna politely walked up to her.

"As your father has employed a French nanny for you, I suppose that you are supposed to have special French lessons."

Luna blinked, a slightly spaced-out expression on her face as she said: "I think he chose her because he thought I would like her, Miss Bellatrix..." 

"I am afraid," Miss Bellatrix said with a sour expression on her face, "that you are a very spoiled little girl that expects everything to be done the way you want it to be done. Well, I still believe your father wants you to learn the French language." 

If Luna had been older or more in tune with social settings and the way most people thought, she might have noticed earlier that Miss Bellatrix was under the impression that Luna didn't speak a word of French. When she did realise, she didn't quite know how to tell Miss Bellatrix the truth- adults often didn't quite follow Luna's thought process properly, apart from her father of course. And it really wasn't like she had ever _studied_ the language before- to be honest, Luna couldn't remember a time when she didn't already speak French. It was one of the official languages in many of the countries she had travelled to with her father, and of course many of his expedition had been funded by his acquaintances in France...

"I... I never really learned French, but-" she started, trailing off as she was trying to put her thoughts into something Miss Bellatrix might understand, before getting lost in her thoughts again.

  


Something that secretly enraged Miss Bellatrix, was, that she didn't speak a word in French herself, and she was dedicated to keeping this embarrassing fact a secret. Thus, she wasn't interesting in discussing the topic any further.

"That's enough" she snapped. "If you didn't learn it yet, you will have to do so immediately. The French teacher, Monsieur Lupin, is going to be here any minute now. Take this book and look through it until he arrives"

Luna took the book and went back to her seat, opening it as she sat down. She looked at the first page with a serious expression on her face. She knew that weird rules of the adults said it would be rude to smile, and she didn't want to be rude. Still, it seemed strange to her that it was expected of her to focus on vocabulary like 'le pere' (the father) and 'la mere' (the mother). This was how people usually learned languages? No wonder not many spoke more than one or two, then.

Miss Bellatrix scrutinized her.

"You appear to be upset, Luna" she said. "I am sorry that you don't seem to like the thought of learning French."

"I like French" Luna answered, trying once again to make the teacher understand her. "but-"

"You should not say 'but' when someone tells you what to do" Miss Bellatrix chided. "Focus on your book."

Luna obeyed and didn't smile when she read that 'le fils' meant the son and 'le frere' the brother. Soon, she didn't see the letters in front of her anymore at all, lost in thoughts of different countries and how creatures might have different ways of learning languages than humans had.

  


Soon after that, Monsieur Lupin arrived. He was a nice, actually British middle-aged man who had spent most of his childhood and adolescent life in France and only recently came back to England to take this teaching position.

"Is this a new student for me?" he asked Miss Bellatrix curiously. "I hope I have more luck with her than with some of the others..." 

"Her father- Mister Xenophilius Lovegood- is very keen on her learning French properly. However, I am afraid that she has a childish dislike of the language. Apparently, she doesn't want to learn." Miss Bellatrix said.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Mademoiselle" Monsieur Lupin addressed Luna, smiling kindly. "If we start learning together, I might be able to show you that it is a very nice language."

Luna got up, pulled away from her daydream and a little distraught about the fact that Miss Bellatrix still wouldn't understand that she didn't _need_ to learn French! Pleasingly, she looked up at Monsieur Lupin, hoping the other adult might get what she wanted to say. She started telling him in fluent French that Madam hadn't understood, that she hadn't learned French from schoolbooks but that her Papa and other people had always talked to her in French, that she had read and written in French just as she had in English, just like her Papa. And that she would be happy to learn whatever Monsieur wanted to teach her.

When Luna had started to talk, Miss Bellatrix had flinched heavily and stared at her almost scandalized. 

Monsieur Lupin smiled, and it was a very happy smile. This pretty child's voice talking so at ease in a language that he felt more at home in than his mother tongue made him feel far away from the dark and foggy days in London. When Luna finished, he took the schoolbook from her with an almost loving expression and turned to Miss Bellatrix.

"Well, Madam", he said, "There isn't much I can teach her. She didn't learn French- she is French! Her pronunciation is remarkable."

"You should have told me" Miss Bellatrix hissed, dudgeoned. 

"I- I tried" Luna stammered. "And I- I think I went about it the wrong way"

The thing was- Miss Bellatrix knew that Luna had indeed tried to tell her. But when she noticed that the other students had listened the entire time, overhearing her embarrassment and were now snickering behind their textbooks, she became all the more angry. 

"Silence!" she knocked on her desk. "Silence- immediately!" 

And from that moment on she resented her little exemplary student.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations from French:  
> "Comme elle est drôle!" - she is so funny!  
> "Elle a l'air d'une princesse, cette petite" - she looks like a princess, this little one
> 
> \---
> 
> I couldn't think of any other French people so I figured Lupin might fit bc he's a nice professor & maybe his family would have moved to France for a while to get away form their past after Remus had been bitten by a werewolf. Yes he's a werewolf in this story too, I don't think Miss Bellatrix would care in this story either way as long as he isn't around on a full moon and is just someone too weak to protest her ordering him around otherwise. And with how much worse it no doubt was for werewolves back then, he is just that.
> 
> If bookmark notifications are as useless to you as they are to me, leave a comment and I'll let you know when I upload the next chapter!  
> Next up: Neville :)


	4. Neville

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2019-12-25  
> I just chose Neville as Ermengarde on instinct, but the more I think about it the more it fits- these pudgy little kids, well-off although not extremely rich, constantly underestimated by everyone else yet burdened with too high expectations from the family sqashing even the potential they have...
> 
> In case it confuses anyone- for the setting of this story, there is no dark lord around, therefore Bellatrix, no matter her private opinions, never turned that kind of evil- I don't see her starting anything like that, she's too much of a follower type person- and do she ends up a teacher and headmistress (there's either no hogwarts in this story or its just not the only school, there are many smaller schools around the country). So, Bellatrix didn't torture Neville's parents to insanity, but for the sake of the story and to not make all the characters completely ooc I tried to leave their backstories as canon as possible, eg Neville still grew up with his grandmother, his parents just died in a factory accident instead or sth (ideas? Gimme)

That first morning, when Luna sat by Miss Bellatrix's side and the entire class didn't take their eyes off her, Luna soon noticed a little boy who must be about as old as herself. It was a pudgy boy who was staring at her out of pale blue eyes. He looked everything but clever, but his face looked kind, and Luna knew that there were more ways to be intelligent than to just be good in class. He had short brown hair and was wearing a cloak that might have even been nice looking if it weren't for the way the boy treated it- it was all wrinkled, and at that moment, the boy was chewing on a sleeve while he admired the newcomer with interest- and with his elbow on the table.

When Luna went to the front and answered Monsieur Lupin in flawless French, the little boy startled quite badly and blushed in awe. For him, who had spent the past weeks trying under tears to remember that 'la mere' meant the mother and 'le pere' the father, it was too much to hear a child his own age not just understanding those words but many more in that language, stringing them together as if it were a breeze. 

He stared at Luna so enthralled and bit at his sleeve so hard that Miss Bellatrix noticed him.

"Mister Longbottom!" she called in a strict voice. "Where are your manners? Put that elbow down! Sleeve out of your mouth! Sit down properly!" 

Mister Longbottom startled again and when Draco and Pansy giggled he turned bright red. He was so ashamed that his dull, childlike eyes filled with tears.

Luna saw this and felt such pity for him that she immediately wanted to be his friend. One of her qualities was to always want to help everyone who was weak and hungry, human, creature, magical and non-magical alike. "If you had lived a few centuries ago" he father had often said, "you would travel the country with your wand drawn, saving and protecting everyone who's in a plight. You always want to fight when you see someone in need."

So, Luna also felt drawn for the small, pudgy Mister Longbottom. She kept looking at him the entire morning and noticed that he didn't learn easily and would probably never be an exemplary student, at least not in French- his achievements there were pitiful. His pronunciation even startled a laugh out of Monsieur Lupin, and Pansy, Draco and some of the other students giggled or shook their heads at him at him and sneered contemptuously.

All, except for Luna.

She pretended like she didn't hear Mister Longbottom saying "le bong pang" instead of 'le von pain', and when the others started to giggle again she blocked them from her thoughts entirely. 

When the lesson was over and the students got together in groups, Luna looked for Mister Longbottom. When she saw him gloomily huddled up on a windowsill, she walked over to start a conversation. She knew she should do that the 'normal' way, but she had never quite managed to understand why, or what the normal way even was, so she simply started talking about the things that were on her mind.

"There are quite a few humdingers around, aren't there? Do you reckon it's because of the weather?"

"Huh?" Mister Longbottom startled yet again at a voice so close, staring at her confused.

"The blibbering humdingers. I've never seen so many in one place before! No, that's not true, there were at least as much the last time I was in Paris, and the weather was lovely there..." smiling, Luna looked out of the window, lost in her memories of faraway places for a moment. 

"Uh- okay. I'm Neville Longbottom." Neville Longbottom said, because no matter his many failings, his grandmother was always proud to proclaim to at least have taught him some manners. 

"I'm Luna Lovegood!" the girl said, smiling dreamily. "But I guess you knew that already."

"I- uh. I'd actually forgotten already." Neville admitted, clearly embarrassed. 

Luna just shrugged. "Names aren't so important, anyway- when would I ever use yours, apart from introductions? But either way I think you have a really pretty name. It reminds me of some of the names in the north..." she didn't remember which country exactly she had been in at the time, but then again she didn't care any more for borders or the names of countries than she did for the names of people. 

"You really like it?" Neville asked, pleased. "I- I like yours, too."

Mister Longbottom's biggest problem was that he had had a successful father. Sometimes, this seemed to be a terrible fate to her, even more so than not having his parents around at all. He had never really known or remembered his parents, so he didn't miss them, but his grandmother Augusta, whom he lived with, kept reminding him of all the ways he wasn't able to live up to the standards of the Longbottom name. And at school, it wasn't any different- everyone had expected him to do well, as powerful as his father and as intelligent as his mother, but now they all knew the truth. He was the dumbest boy in the entire school who couldn't cast a single spell, there was no denying it.

"You have to make him learn" his grandmother had said to Miss Bellatrix when she had intrusted her with her granddaughter. But so far, it hadn't helped. In the classes in which they had to do practical magic, Miss Bellatrix had taken away Neville's wand away from him the second time he set something on fire. He hadn't been particularly sorry about the loss- it was his father's wand, and it didn't listen to him at all. He spent most of his waking hours learning things, only to immediately forget them again. Or, if he did remember something, he usually didn't understand it at all. So it was only understandable that when Luna talked to him, Neville only sat there and stared at her in awe.

"You can speak French, right?" he asked in deep respect. 

Luna joined him on the broad windowsill, tucked in her legs and hugged her knees.

"I can speak it because I've heard it all my life" she answered. "You could speak it just the same if you had always heard it"

"Oh no, I'm sure I couldn't," Neville protested. "I could _never_ speak it." 

"Why not?" Luna asked, sounding sincerely curious. 

Neville just shook his head. "You heard me earlier," he said. "It's always like that for me. I can't _say_ the words. They're so- weird."

He paused for a moment. "You're clever, right?" he said in an almost awe-struck tone.

Luna looked out into the dirty courtyard where sparrows and garden-gnomes were hopping around or sitting on the rust-covered iron gates. People had told her before that she was clever, while others had just seen her as odd, and she whether either of it was true- and if yes, why that was the case.

"I don't know" she said. "I can't tell you."

When Neville's pudgy face got a sad expression at that, she laughed and quickly changed the topic.

"Do you want to meet Frances?" she asked.

"Who is Frances?" Neville asked.

"Come up to my room" Luna said and offered her hand. Together, they jumped down from the windowsill and ran up the stairs.

"Is it true," Neville whispered, "That you have your own play-room?" 

"Yes" Luna answered. "Papa asked Miss Bellatrix to let me have one, because- well, because I make up stories when I play, and tell them to myself. And I don't want anyone to listen in. When I think someone is listening in, that destroys everything."

By then, they had reached the floor leading to Luna's rooms. Neville suddenly stopped, out of breath, and stared at her.

"You come up with stories!" he gasped out in awe. "You can do that- and you can speak French? Really?" 

Luna looked at him, confused.

"Of course, everyone can make up things" she said. "Have you never tried?"

Then, she put her hand on Neville's in warning. "Let's go to the door really quietly" she whispered. "And then we open it at one go, then maybe we'll catch Frances at it."

Lunar laughed quietly, and there was a hint of secretive hope in her eyes that fascinated Neville. He had, however, no idea what this was all supposed to mean and who they would 'catch at it'. Whatever it would be, Neville was sure it would be something wonderfully exciting. He followed Luna on tiptoes in eager anticipation.

Luna turned the doorknob lightning-quick and pushed open the door. The room was orderly and quiet in front of them. Her things had been put away in wardrobes and cupboards, and a lovely little dog was sitting in his doggy bed.

"Oh, Frances went back to it before I could see anything!" Luna said, clearly disappointed. "Of course- as always. Frances doesn't want to be caught reading."

Neville looked from Luna to the dog and from the dog back to Luna. "Can he- read?" he asked, out of breath.

"Yes," Luna said. "At least I think so. At least I pretend like I think so. And that's how it seems real to me. Have you never pretended like something was real?"

"No" Neville said. "Never. I- tell me about it?"

Neville was so enthralled by this curious new classmate that he only looked at Luna instead of Frances- even though Frances was the cutest dog he had ever seen.

"Come, let's sit down," Luna said, "and I'll tell you all about it. It's so easy that you won't be able to stop once you started. You just keep going. And that's what's so wonderful. Frances, listen, this is Neville Longbottom.- Neville, this is Frances. Do you want to pet her?"

"Oh, may I?" Neville asked. "May I really? Oh, she is so beautiful!" 

Never in his short, bleak life would Mister Longbottom have dared to dream that he would sit together with this odd student before the lunch bell rang.

Lung sat on the rug in front of the fireplace and told Neville about the strangest things. She told stories of her journey to England and of her expeditions to far of places in the past, but what fascinated Neville the most was the perception that dogs could speak and read or even do magic. Animals that could do whatever they wanted to as soon as no humans were in the room, that kept their powers hidden and therefore had to hush back to their place 'lightning-quick' when someone entered the room.

One time, when Luna told the story about how she and her father had found Frances, Neville saw her face change quite suddenly. It seemed as if the shadow of a dark cloud had fallen on her, erasing all the light from her gleaming eyes.

"Is- is everything alright?" Neville asked timidly.

"No" Luna whispered after being silent for a moment. "But it's nothing that really hurts me."

After another moment she added quietly: "Do you love your father more than everything in the entire world?"

Neville fell silent. He knew that his grandmother wanted him to love and be proud of his parents, but he couldn't really remember them at all, and everything his gran told him just made him feel jealous or like a disappointment to the family. 

"I- I don't really know" he mumbled. 

"I love my father more than everything in the world, much, much more" Luna said. "That is my pain- he isn't here with me."

She looked down for a while, her blonde hair falling into her face. 'She's going go cry', Neville thought. But Luna didn't cry. Without looking up, she said: "I promised him that I would be brave. And I will be. Sometimes, you have to endure things." 

Neville stared at her and he started to seriously admire her. Luna was so wonderful and so very different from everyone else.

Then, Luna raised her head and shook back her hair with an odd smile.

"When I keep telling you about me inventing stories," she said, "I can endure it better. It's not forgetting but it means not thinking about it at the moment."

Neville didn't know why, but he felt a lump in her throat.

"Draco and Pansy are 'best friends'," he said in a hoarse voice. "I wish the two of us would be that, too. May I be your best friend? You're so clever, and I'm the dumbest child in the entire school, but I... I like you so much!" 

"I am delighted," Luna smiled. "It makes you feel very grateful to be loved. Yes- we will be friends. And you know what-" her smile became even brighter- "I can help you with your French exercises!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk what Neville's eye colour is, anyone help??


	5. Myrtle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2020-01-08  
> Ouups it's been a while! Welcome to 2020!
> 
> I couldn't think of any kids so yea our fav moaning ghost got resurrected xD 
> 
> I left the religion bits as is bc frankly I don't know enough about any that might fit better to change it properly. Plus it's mostly just Sara/Luna's particular idea of it anyway.

If Luna hadn't been different than most children, her life might have been quite difficult in the following years in Miss Bellatrix's school. The way it was, however, she was treated more like royalty than a little schoolgirl. 

Secretly, Miss Bellatrix disliked Luna, but she was way too calculating to give her any reason to complain. She was well aware of the fact that, if Luna were unhappy or didn't feel well, her father would immediately pull her out of the school. Miss Bellatrix thought that if a child was constantly praised and never told no, it just had to be happy.

Because of this, Luna was praised for her wand work, her manners, her kindness towards her classmates, her generosity when she gave a beggar a knut. The smallest things she did were turned into virtues. If she had cared more about such things, she might have turned into a very complacent person.

But Luna's acuteness of mind let her see the truth about herself- and as time passed, she even told Neville about it.

"Everything happens to people by chance" she often said. "I had a lot of good things happen to me: it's a coincidence that I have always liked to learn and read, and that I was able to remember what I learned. It's a coincidence that I am a pureblood who has been allowed to practice magic all my life. It's by chance that I am the daughter of a rich father who can give me everything I could wish for. Maybe I am not even really kind, except that when you have everything you want, and everyone is nice to you, you can't help but be kind? I don't know..." she looked into the distance. "I don't know how I should ever find out whether I'm a good or a bad child. Maybe I'm even a terrible child, and I'll never know, just because I never had any problems."

"Draco doesn't have any problems either" Neville insisted, "and he's terrible enough." 

Luna tilted her head and touched the tip of her nose, deep in thought. "Maybe that's because Draco is still _growing_ " she remembered hearing Miss Sybill say that Draco was growing so quickly it messed with his magic and his temper.

Draco was, in fact, spiteful. He bullied the younger children, threw his weight around when he was with his yearmates and he was very jealous of Luna. Until she arrived, Draco had been something like a leader of the school. He was the nephew of Miss Bellatrix, his family was fairly wealthy and when the students went out in pairs he had always been the best dressed child- until Luna showed up with her velvet cloaks and feathered hats that would always look better than his black or silver cloaks no matter how oddly Luna combined items. 

This alone had been sour enough for Draco, and it soon turned out that Luna was a leader, too, and not by bullying other children into obedience the way Draco did, but by always being friendly, helpful and polite. 

Pansy had angered her 'best friend' Draco by saying "Well, Luna never does get big-headed, I'll give her that- and you know she would have reason enough, Dray. I think I'd have a hard time not being at least a little conceited if I had all her nice things and everyone making such a fuss about her. It's right distasteful, the way Miss Bellatrix shows her off when parents are visiting." 

"Dear Luna just _has_ to come to the salon and tell Mrs. Abbott about India!" Draco imitated Miss Bellatrix's sharp voice and her shrill laughter before continuing " _Dear_ Luna has to speak French with Mrs. Jaheem, her pronunciation is just perfect. -She didn't learn a word French in school, and she knows it. She says herself that she didn't learn it at all. Just picked it up because she heard it from her _Papa_. And her father himself- I think he's plain weird, and what's so special about a researcher anyway?" 

"He did find out about the three uses of unicorn hair outside wandlore" Pansy said slowly. "and cut the strand of hair that's in Luna's own wand- that's why she loves it so much. She always does little spells with it in her room, light that look like different creatures and such."

"She always does silly things like that!" Draco said bitingly. "My father says that it is childish to play pretend, and Luna even pretends like her stupid muggle dog can talk! My father says that she is going to become eccentric for sure."

It was true that Luna wasn't arrogant. She was a friendly being, always ready to share her things- when she wasn't too lost in her thoughts to notice anything around her. 

She also cared for the younger children, the ones the older kids didn't usually want to hang out with. When someone fell and scraped a knee, she ran over and took care of it. When someone was homesick, she distracted them with stories of foreign creatures. She would never belittle or humiliate anyone for being small and unexperienced. 

"When you are four, you are four" she told Draco one time when the older boy had unjustly hit the little Myrtle, calling her a 'dumb hussy'. "And" she added pensive, "it only takes sixteen more years until you're twenty."

"Dear Merlin!" Draco called out. "You can do math!" 

Thus, especially the younger children admired Luna. It was known throughout the school that she held tea-parties for them in her room, where they were allowed to play with Frances and drink sweet tea from Luna's own fine china teaset.

From then on, Luna was like a princess for the children of the first grades.

Her biggest admirer was Myrtle Warring, and she loved it the most when Luna would mother her. Myrtle's father had sent her to school because he didn't know what to do with her. Her mother had died when Myrtle had been a toddler, and as the child had always been treated like a spoilt lapdog, she soon turned into a real nuisance.

When Myrtle wanted something she couldn't get or didn't like something she was supposed to eat, she cried and sobbed and screamed, trying to make glasses burst to shreds with not-so-accidental accidental magic. And because she always wanted what she couldn't get, her shrill cries were a constant background noise in the house.

Myrtle was of the opinion that a little girl who had lost her mother should get special attention and pity. She had probably heard people talk that way after her mother died and now used this knowledge in her favor.

The first time Luna took Myrtle under her wing was one morning when she heard the voices of Miss Bellatrix and Miss Sybill who tried to calm the screaming child. The child resisted so much that Miss Bellatrix almost had to scream herself to be heard.

"Why in Circe's name are you screaming?!" she shouted.

"Uh-uh-uuuu" Lunar heard Myrtle sob. "I don't have a mommy!"

"Oh Myrtle" Miss Sybill cried. "Do me a favor and stop! Stop crying! Please!"

"Uh-uuuh-uuuh!" Myrtle's cries were getting louder. "Don' have a Mommy!" 

"I should put you over my knee!" Miss Bellatrix screamed. "That'll set you right, or a well-aimed stinging jinx, you insolent child!"

A window shattered, whether through accidental magic or through the adults' anger, no-one could tell.

"Aargh!" Miss Bellatrix fixed the glass with an annoyed swish of her wand.

Myrtle's sobs were just getting worse. Miss Sybill started crying. Miss Bellatrix was shouting in a thundering voice until she had enough and ran out of the room to let Miss Sybill deal with the issue.

Luna had stopped in the entrance hall and was considering whether or not she should go inside.

When Miss Bellatrix stepped out of the room and saw her, she looked angered, visibly displeased at having Luna hear her shout. 

"Oh- Luna" she acted surprised and forced a smile onto her lips.

"I stopped" Luna explained apologetically, "because I heard Myrtle... And I thought, I could maybe- just maybe- try to calm her. May I try, Miss Bellatrix?" 

"But of course. I'm sure you'll manage. After all you're a clever child." Miss Bellatrix said snidely, pressing her lips together in a thin line. When she saw that Luna was bewildered at her gruffness, she quickly added: "You're clever, after all. I'm sure you can do it. Do go in"

When Luna entered the room, Myrtle was laying on the floor, screaming and trashing about while Miss Sybill tried her hardest to get her to calm down. The woman was desperate and at wit's end- Myrtle knew from back home that she only had to cry long enough to get what she wanted. The poor, kind Miss Sybill was completely at her mercy. Bravely she went through all methods to calm down a child she could think of.

"Poor child!" she said at first. "I know that you don't have a mommy."

The, in a sharper tone of voice: "Stop it, Myrtle, or I'll shake you!" 

Followed by: "You poor little angel, you"

And then: "You bad, naughty, disgusting child, I'll spank you you'll see!"

Calmly, Luna watched her for a while before going over, skipping the way she often did. She might not have had any idea how to calm Myrtle down herself but a feeling told her that it wasn't a good idea to switch the reaction back and forth the way the Miss did.

"Miss Sybill" she said quietly, "Miss Bellatrix said I should try to calm her down- may I?"

Miss Sybill turned around and looked at her in despair. "Oh, you really think you could do it?" she asked.

"I don't know whether or not I can" Luna answered, "but I will try."

Miss Sybill got up and sighed while Myrtle kept thrashing about with her tiny legs and arms.

"When you go out quietly, I'll stay with her" Luna said.

"Oh, Luna!" Miss Sybill wailed."We've never had such a terrible child here with us. I am not sure whether I see a future for her here at all..."

She hushed out of the room and was glad that she no longer had to look after the little one.

For a while, Luna just looked down at the crying Myrtle, watching her like a particularly fascinating creature. Then, she sat down on the ground and waited. Apart from Myrtle's screams it was completely silent in the room.

This was a new development for little Miss Warren, who was used to everyone dropping what they were doing and trying to calm her as soon as she started crying. 

But laying on the floor and raging while someone was sitting next to her seemingly without caring about her tantrum at all made her curious. She opened her squinting, tear-stained eyes to see what was going on.

The only thing she saw was another little girl.

But this was the little girl Frances belonged to, along with all the wonderful things Lunar owned! And she just looked at her calmly, almost as if she was lost in thought.

Myrtle halted for a moment before she started to scream again, but the silence in the room along with Luna's curious gaze turned it into a rather half-hearted attempt.

"I- don't- have- a- mommy!" she started, but it wasn't as loud as before. 

Luna looked at her more sharply, and her gaze held something like sympathy as she said "I don't have one, either."

This came as such a surprise that Myrtle stopped squirming and started staring at her instead. Nothing shuts up a crying child quicker than a surprising new impression.

It also helped that Myrtle couldn't stand Miss Bellatrix or Miss Sybill, but liked Luna despite barely knowing her. She might not have wanted to stop her wailing once and for all, but she still asked curiously: 

"Where is she?"

Luna didn't say anything for a moment. She had been told her mother went to heaven and she had thought about it a lot.

"She's probably in heaven" she finally said. "But I think she visits me sometimes, even though I can't really see her. It's the same way with your mommy. Maybe they can see both of us right now. Maybe they're even in this very room."

Myrtle sat up straight and stared at her. She was a pretty little girl with curly hair and her round eyes reminded of forget-me-nots. Had her mother seen her in the last half hour, however, she would not have thought that this child could be related to an angel.

Luna kept talking, and what she said was so interesting, so alive, that Myrtle just had to listen. In the past, she had only been told that her mother had wings now and a crown on her head, and she had been shown pictures of women in pretty white dresses that were called 'angels'. Luna, however, told her about a mythical place filled with beings as if it was true.

"There, in heaven, they have endless flower fields" she said and, as always, started to forget everything and everyone around her as she told a story. "Infinite fields filled with lilies, and when the wind comes, it carries the scent into the air. And everything breathes it, because the wind is always there. And small children are running through the lily fields collecting armfulls of them, and they are laughing and braiding wreaths. The streets shine in the sunlight. No-one is ever tired, no matter how far they walked. Everyone can move freely. The entire city is surrounded by walls of pearls and gold, and they are so low that everyone can lean onto them and look down to earth, and they are laughing and sending down wonderful messages."

Myrtle had stopped crying immediately and listened intently to what Lunar had said. This story was too nice. She crawled next to Luna and listened to every word until the story was over. Immediately, she made a face and started crying again already. 

"That's where I want to go!" she wailed. "I don't- I don't have a mommy here at school!"

Luna recognised the danger. She took Myrtle's little hand and pulled her closer with a soothing smile.

"I will be your mommy" she said. "We can play that you're my little girl- and Frances is your sister."

"Really?" Myrtle asked. Her dimples were showing again.

"Yes" Luna answered, and she jumped to her feet. "Come, let's go to Frances and tell her about it!" 

Myrtle agreed happily. She skipped out of the room much the way Luna did ahead of her and followed the older girl up the stairs. At once, she had forgotten the way she had acted in the past hour, because she wanted to go with Luna and play with Frances.

From that point on, Luna was Myrtle's adoptive mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reached the 10k mark, yaasss! 
> 
> Next up: Harry :)
> 
> Every nice comment makes me smile!


	6. Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been so long, again, sorry! I was busy finding an internship, finding a room in the new city, moving my stuff, going back to uni for a week,..... Hope you're here to read this still!
> 
> I think the characters are all a bit ooc compared to canon, but of course they all lived different lives so I think it's not really too badly ooc that they'd be different... I took the A Little Princess canon and adapted the characters to be more like the HP characters while still bot changing too much of the storyline.
> 
> Btw there won't be any actual ships in this story because there aren't any in the original book, but of course you're free to imagine any of the friendships as something more romantic!

Her classmates weren't only jealous of Luna because of her wonderful things or because she was 'the model student', but also because she had a unique gift of telling stories that fascinated everyone.

Everyone who had a story teller in school knows what kind of admiration that brings: followed everywhere, constantly begged for a taste. Masses surround them, trying not to miss anything. 

Luna wasn't just able to tell stories, but also invented them with enthusiasm. When she was the point of attention and started to talk about the wonderful things that come from her mind, her eyes became big, almost glowing, her cheeks rosy, and, without even noticing, her voice, once soft and once gloomy, was accompanied by expressive movements of her arms and hands.

She completely forgot that she was surrounded by an audience, she only saw and lived through the essence of the stories she told, the kings and Queens and sorcerers whose adventures she talked about.

"When I tell stories", she once said, "they don't seem made up to me. They're more real to me than everything in the classroom here! It's as if I can climb right into the stories. It's indescribable."

It was a foggy winter afternoon about two years later.

Luna just stepped out of the main fireplace and wanted to walk back to her room when she noticed a small, dirty little figure by the staircase, looking at her with a wide-eyed stare.

The curious, fearsome eyes in the dirty face attracted Luna's attention, and she smiled at him the way she smiled at everybody. However, the figure with the dirty face seemed to be afraid of getting caught watching one of the classy students. He quickly disappeared back into the kitchen. Luna would have laughed if it hadn't been such a small, fearfully thing whose state was touching her.

In the evening, when Luna was sitting in a corner of the classroom, surrounded by her audience and telling one of her stories, the small, fearful figure entered the room with a much too heavy coal box in his arms, not lightened by magic. He kneeled on the hearthrug to refill the coal and sweep the ashes.

He wasn't as filthy as he had been in the morning, peering through the banister, but he looked just as fearful. He was afraid to look at the children and appear to be listening. Quietly, he stacked the coals and moved the irons, as if avoiding every noise.

Luna, however, noticed that he was very interested in the story, that he was also quiet to understand as much as possible of it. As soon as she noticed that, she raised her voice, speaking loud and clear:

"The mer-people were swimming through the crystal clear water, pulling a fishing net set with real pearls" she said. "The sorceress was watching from the cliff..."

The boy by the fireplace sweeped it once, twice, and when he wanted to sweep it a third time he had become so enthralled by the story, he forgot everything around himself. Kneeling on the hearthrug, the hearth brush went limp in his hand. 

Luna's voice carried on and carried him to the bottom of the sea, to creatures he had never even heard of in the past. It was as if strange seaweeds and flowers were surrounding them, and an echo of music in the distance...

The broom fell out of his hand with a clang.

Draco Malfoy whipped around. "He was listening in!" he exclaimed. 

The miscreant snatched his brush and jumped up, grabbing the coal box and hurrying from the room like a jolted bowtruckle.

"I knew he was listening!" Luna said. "And why shouldn't he?"

Draco proudly stood up and said "I don't know whether _your_ mother and father would like you to tell a servant stories, but _my_ father would never allow it!"

"My parents!" Luna called out with a strange expression on her face. "I don't think they would care at all! They know that stories are for everyone."

"I thought your mother's dead," Draco replied sharply, "So how would she know that?"

"You think she doesn't?!" sometimes, Luna's calm voice could sound almost dangerous, not dreamy but like a hidden nightmare.

"Luna's mother knows everything!" Myrtle interrupted. "And my mommy does too, well, Luna's my mommy now, but my real mommy, she knows everything! Cause she's an angel, Luna tells me about it at bedtime"

"You stupid girl" Draco said, turning back to Luna. "Telling made up stories from muggle religion."

"There are many nice stories there" Luna replied. "And they're not just muggle- there are books on it in the library here, too, you can look it up if you like! And why do you even think they are lies? But I am telling you, you are never going to find out whether it's true or not if you don't try to be a nicer person soon. Come on, Myrtle."

And Luna walked out of the room, Myrtle in tow.

She was hoping to see the servant boy somewhere, but he was long gone.

"Who is the little boy that takes care of the fireplaces?" Luna asked Aurélie that evening. 

Aurélie freely told her: "Oh, yes, Mademoiselle Luna, you have every reason to ask. Such a lonely little thing, only just started working in the kitchens here, I heard his parents died and his relatives didn't want to keep taking care of him- très tragique, if you ask me. Yes, he was supposed to work in the kitchens, but they give him much more work that that: cleaning the fireplaces, carrying coal, scrubbing floors and cleaning windows... Yes, everyone is bossing him around. And he doesn't even have a wand! He's fourteen already, so he should very well have one already, but I suppose he doesn't have any money for more than food- although he is so scrawny, he looks more like twelve, so I suppose he can't be getting much food, either. One has to feel pity for that boy. He is so fearful that when you talk to him it seems as if his big green eyes jump out of his head!" 

"What's his name?" Luna asked, sitting at the table and listening intently."

"He is called 'arry. I keep hearing them shout ''arry, do this! 'arry do that!'"

Luna was sitting there, looking into the fire, and she thought about Harry long after Aurélie had left, thinking up a story with Harry as the hero. She hoped that she would see him again. 

When Luna did see the boy again, carrying the coal box from room to room, he always seemed to be in such a hurry and so full of fear that she didn't dare talk to him.

A few weeks later, however, on one of these foggy afternoons, Luna entered her room with Frances in tow to find a pitiful image in front of her: Harry was sitting in her favourite armchair, fast asleep. The empty coalbox was standing beside him.

Harry had been sent up to get the rooms ready for the evening. There were a lot of rooms and he had been up all day. Luna's rooms had been the last of his round on purpose: her rooms weren't as plain and unremarkable as the others. Her comfortable living room seemed like a luxury suite to tue servant's boy, even though it was actually just a small room. There were pictures and books and funny gadgets from abroad as well as a couch and a comfortable armchair.

Harry always saved Luna's room for the end of the day because it felt like a holiday just to go inside. He always hoped to get a few minutes to sit in the soft armchair, maybe pet the dog when it was alone in the room, look around and think about how happy the child who lived here must be. When he had still lived with his relatives, he had seen similarly fancy, albeit muggle, furniture, but he had never been allowed to sit in any of it.

When Harry sat in the armchair this afternoon and stretched his aching legs, he was relaxing so much, the warming shine of the fire surrounding him like magic, that a tired smile slowley snuck onto his dirty face, and his head fell onto his chest without him noticing. He hadn't been able to fight how tired he was.

It had only been ten minutes since he had entered the room, but when Luna entered he was sleeping as deeply as if he had lain there for hours. 

Luna never even thought about being angry at this him for sitting in her armchair as filthy as he was, the opposite in fact, she was delighted: once Harry woke up, she would finally have a chance to talk to him. 

Harry snored quietly.

'I hope he wakes up by himself' Luna thought. 'I don't want to wake him- but Miss Bellatrix is going to be mad if she find's out. I am only going to wait a few minutes.'

She told Frances to sit in the dog basket before sitting down on the floor herself, bouncing her legs as quietly as possible as she thought about what she should do. Miss Sybill could come in at any moment, and then Harry would surely be in trouble...

Frances had, unnoticed by her, walked up to the strange creature in the armchair and yipped when the boy didn't stir, pulling Luna from her thoughts. 

Harry, too, startled with a fright, pulled out of his dreams and suddenly seeing the friendly student closeby in front of him.

He jumped up hastily, almost stumbling over the little dog while he was trying to put his filthy uniform back in order. What terrible trouble had he gotten himself in! What impudence, to fall asleep in a young lady's armchair! He would be kicked out immediately. 

"Oh Miss, oh miss" he stammered. "please forgive me, Miss! Please!" 

Luna jumped up and came up to him.

"You don't have to be afraid" she said, just as if she were talking to her peers. "It's no trouble at all."

"I didn't mean to, Miss" Harry professed. "It was just because of the warm fire- and I had been so tired. I didn't mean to!"

Luna laughed friendly, patting his shoulder. "You were tired" she said "it wasn't your fault. You're still not really awake."

Harry stared at her, unbelieving. Never before had anyone talked to him in such a kind and friendly manner. And this girl in the rich cloak looked at him as if he wasn't guilty at all- as if it had been his right to be tired, yes, even to fall asleep! 

"You- you aren't mad, Miss?" he stammered. "You aren't going to tell the Missis?"

"No" Luna said, bouncing onto her heels and back. "Of course not."

The fear in the soot-smudged face made her pity the boy so much, she could barely stand it.

"But we're the same" she said. "You're just a little kid, same as me. It's just fate that I'm not you and you're not me."

Harry didn't understand her at all. He had only heard of 'fate' before in the context of unfortunate incidents, when someone had an accident, died or had to go to the hospital.

"Fate?" he asked interested. "Really?"

"Yes" Luna said, staring ahead dreamily for a moment. Then, she changed the topic: "Are you done working?" she asked. "Do you think you can get away with staying here for a while?"

Harry gasped. "Here, Miss? Me?"

Luna skipped to the door, opened it and listened.

"There's no-one outside" she reported. "If you're done with the bedrooms, you could stay here for a bit. I thought... You might like a piece of cake."

The following ten minutes were like a dream for Harry.

Frances was sitting in his lap, happy to be petted and quickly falling asleep.

Luna opened a cupboard and handed Harry a large slice of cake. She seemed to be happy to see him hungrily devour it. She talked and asked questions and laughed until Harry became a little less fearful and had the courage to ask one or two questions himself, no matter how rude that still seemed to him.

"Is that-" he broke off and stared in awe at the deep blue dressing gown she was wearing. "is that your fanciest?"

"It's for dancing" Luna said with an airy smile. "It's quite pretty, isn't it? I like dancing, though I don't like to do the steps the teacher says I should do... I used to dance with my father, making steps up as we went, or dancing to the moon out in the wild... But, yes, it's quite pretty."

  
Harry was full of admiration and said: "I saw a princess once. I was waiting in the carriage because my aunt and uncle were going to the opera and I- wasn't allowed, and I saw all those fancy lookin' people going inside. And there was one that everyone stared at, and they were whispering 'that's a princess!', that was a lady in a long gown and a coat and flowers and everything. And when I saw you sitting there just now, you reminded me of her. You looked just the same."

"I think about that sometimes" Luna said thoughtfully. "Being a muggle princess, or a magical one if there ever were one- I'd like to find out how that feels. Yes, I want to know- you know what, I'll just start to pretend like I am one."

Harry looked at her full of admiration again, despite once again not really understanding what the girl was up to.

"Harry, you listened to the story about the merpeople, right?" Luna asked after a while.

"Yes, Miss" Harry admitted, getting anxious again. "I know I shouldn't have, but it was such a nice story, I just had to!"

"I'm happy that you listened" Luna said. "When I tell stories, there's nothing better than people wanting to listen. I don't know why that is... Do you want to hear the ending?" 

Harry gasped in surprise. "Me?" he asked. "As if I were a student? Yes, please!"

Luna nodded. "I'm just afraid we don't have enough time" she said. "But if you tell me at what time you are here to clean my bedroom, I'll try to be here to tell you a little every day, until the story is over. It's a nice, long story- not all of it is true, I mean maybe it is, but I made up a lot of it along the way"

"Then" Harry said reverently, "I don't care how heavy the coalbox is- or what the cook is shouting at me- if I'm just allowed to listen again."

"You will" Luna said. "I'll tell you the entire story. Oh, and I'll have to find a spell to make the coalbox lighter to carry! I don't know one yet I'm afraid, and I'm not sure it would last all day, but I'll try to find something in the library. Or I'll come up with something! I've never managed to make my own spell again, but I think sometimes people just need an incentive to really try"

"Oh, _thank you_ Miss!"

When Harry went downstairs, that wasn't the same Harry that had staggered upstairs earlier that day, almost breaking down under the weight of the coalbox.

He had an extra slice of cake in his pocket, and he had experienced a warmth that didn't just originate in the fireplace- it had been something else entirely, and that something was Luna.

After Harry had left, Luna laid down in her favorite position on the floor, on her back with her hands under her head as she looked at the ceiling. 

"If I were a princess- real royalty-" she mumbled, "I could do good for my people. And even now, while I'm just pretending to be a princess, I can think of things I can do for others." 

Content, she shrugged off her dress shoes and wiggled her toes. She was very happy with those thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you made it so far, make my day by leaving a comment and telling me which character you liked best so far!
> 
> Next chapter   
> (spoilers?! Idk it's in the chapter title so... XD)   
> in the book is 'the diamond mine', and I'm thinking about what her father could discover instead or whether I should just stick to that... Any suggestions?


	7. The Diamonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I first thought about finding a magical equivalent of the diamond mine, or something more fitting to the character of Xenophilius Lovegood the researcher, but then again- diamonds definitely are valuable in the wizarding world as well, and Lovegood could stumble upon the diamonds while somewhere in the wilderness looking for creatures, so...  
> Plus I didn't have any better ideas and wanted to continue writing this before I'd forget about it and it'd be abandoned xD and the closer I'm writing this AU to the og book, the easier it is to keep track of everything and all the alterations to the plot I have to make in the future.  
> I only changed it from a mine to just the stones because I figured wizards could magick the gems out of the environment differently.  
> Posted 2020-04-11

Shortly afterwards, something exciting happened.

Exciting not just to Luna but for the entire school- it was _the_ topic for weeks and the students barely talked about anything else.

In a letter to Luna, Xenophilius Lovegood had told a thrilling story: while travelling with a good friend from his last expedition to India, he came across not the naked fire-mole, the creature they had been looking for, but- diamonds. They didn't quite know yet how valuable the stones were, and Xenophilius wasn't all that interested in them anyways, but he hoped that they were worth enough to fund a long expedition from South to North America that he had planned years ago but had never been able to realise.

Technically, it had been his friend who had found the stones, but because he liked Luna's father and it had been him who had planned the trip to the area, they were planning to share the profit equally and start the project of removing the gems together. 

At least that was what Luna could read out of her father's letters, in-between descriptions of the nature, vegetation and creatures in the area and how much he missed his daughter (all of which Lunar was happy to read as well).

Diamonds.

While Luna was usually more interested in living things, the idea of gemstones made of coal so old they wouldn't only have been around when Merlin still walked the earth but before any humans, magical or muggle, had been alive... the concept _fascinated_ her, and together with the idea of shiny little gems leaving beams of light everywhere, she didn't think of much else

She thought about secretcaves full of diamonds, of travellers taking their share or getting lost in the wondrous sights, of fantastical creatures that eat diamonds and only feed once in a century that may or may not exist.

She can't quite remember whether she read about the creatures somewhere or just came up with the idea by herself- but it doesn't matter much, now does it? If someone- her father now, maybe!- were to find the creature, that would be the proof of its existence, and if not- no-one can prove that something /doesn't/ exist, now can they?

Of course Luna shared her ideas with the other children as well. Neville liked her stories, and Myrtle insisted on hearing them again every evening.

Draco, on the other hand, made fun of her and told Pansy that he didn't believe the story about the diamonds.

"My mother has a diamond ring and a necklace that cost hundreds of galleons" he said.

"If there were diamonds just laying around for anyone to find they wouldn't be so expensive, now would they? And it's obvious she's lying all the time, have you heard how she told Longbottom about the beast that eats stones?" 

"maybe Luna is going to be insolently rich one day" Pansy replied.

"She's insolent enough already!" Draco scoffed.

"I think you just can't stand her" Pansy smiggered.

"Not true!" Draco shouted, outraged. "She might be a bit- funny, but she's still a pureblood- I just don't believe that nonsense about finding diamonds!"

"Well, people have to get them from _somewhere._ " Pansy retorted. 

"Whatever- I don't know, and I don't care when it is about this Luna." 

"Yes- one of her delusions is that she is a _princess_. She plays princess all the time- even at school! She says it helps her learn. She wants Neville to play a prince as well, but he thinks he's too fat for that."

"Well he's right about that" Draco said "and Luna's too scrawny."

Pansy started to giggle again.

"She says it's not about what you look like or what you own. She says it's all about what you _think_ and how you _act_."

"I guess she thinks she could be a princess even if she was a beggar's girl" Draco said. "You know what? We'll start calling her 'her majesty' from now on."

The lesson was over, and they were sitting in front of the fireplace- always the best time of day, as Miss Bellatrix and Miss Sybill retreated to their saloon for tea. Now the children were able to talk freely and spill quite a few secrets.

Just as Draco was about to say something, the door opened and Luna walked in, together with Myrtle who always followed her around like a loyal pet.

"There she is, with that horrible child" Draco murmured. "If she likes her so terribly much, why doesn't she take her to her own room? She's just going to start crying again."

Myrtle had suddenly gotten the idea to play in the classroom and she had begged her 'adoptive mother' to go with her. Now, she joined a group of younger students in a corner while Luna went to sit on a windowsill, opening a book and starting to read.

It was a book on the dragon wars, and she soon lost herself in the mental pictures of the prisoners, held apart from their loyal creatures...

She was so far away that it was an unpleasant feeling to be dragged back to the present by Myrtle's wailing.

Nothing was harder for Luna than trying to keep her calm when someone so rudely interrupted her when she was thinking. Everyone who reads fiction knows the feeling of confusion that comes over you in such a moment. Not to react snappy or unreasonable isn't easy in such a case.

What had happened? 

Myrtle had stumbled and fallen on the floor, scraping her knee. She screamed like a banshee, hopping around on one leg.

"Shut up, you crybaby! Stop it, now!" Draco ordered, hitting her with a stinging jinx.

"I'm not a crybaby! Am not!" Myrtle whailed. "Luna, Luna!"

"If she doesn't stop soon, Miss Bellatrix is going to hear" Pansy said. "Myrtle dearie, come on, I'll even give you a knut!" 

"I don't want your knut" Myrtle cried. She looked down at her knee, noticed a drop of blood and started crying again. 

Luna had put her book on the windowsill and left her comfortable place there. She walked through the room, bent down and hugged Myrtle. 

"Come on, Myrtle-mine" she said soothingly. "What did you promise me?" 

Myrtle remembered all too well what she had promised, but opted to cry out again instead.

"I don't have a mommy!" she cried. "I don't have a mommy at all!" 

"Yes, you do" Luna said encouragingly. "Don't you remember? Don't you remember that Luna is your mommy?" 

Myrtle got up and snuggled closer to Luna with a sob.

"Come on, let's sit on the windowsill" Luna suggested. "I'll tell you a story."

"Really?" Myrtle asked, suddenly not so teary-eyed anymore. "Will you- will you tell me about the diamonds?" 

"Diamonds?" Draco blurted out. "This terrible, spoilt thing! I'd love to jinx you, honestly!"

Luna got up abruptly. "You know" she said calmly, "I would love to jinx _you_ \- but I don't want to- well, I do want to, but I'm not going to. We're all educated people. And old enough to deal with things better than that."

That was Draco's cue. "Oh yes, your royal majesty" he said "We're all royalty, if I'm not mistaken. At least one of us is. The school is probably going to be famous, now that Miss Bellatrix has a princess in attendance." 

Luna jerked up. It looked as if she was really going for her wand now. Her game of playing princess came from an inner wish, and she always had to use all her fantasy and imagination to put herself in the role. It should have stayed a secret, and now Draco went and taunted her for it in front of the entire class. She noticed how the blood flowed into her face and prickled in her ears.

But a princess didn't have fits of rage.

For a moment, Luna stood entirely still. Then she raised her head and said in a calm, collected voice to everyone who was listening:

"It's true. I really play pretend as a princess sometimes. I do it so I can try to act like one."

Draco didn't know what he was supposed to reply to that. It wasn't the first time that had happened to him concerning Luna. He saw how everyone was listening intently when the girl spoke. Everyone liked the idea of princesses and they came close to Luna in the hopes of learning more.

Draco only had one retort left, and even that one almost went unnoticed:

"Good grief!" he said. "I hope you aren't going to forget about us when you get onto your throne."

"No." Luna simply answered. She kept standing there calmly, looking at Draco until Pansy grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away.

Since then, those who were jealous of Luna just called her "Princess Luna" in a disdainful voice. Others used the same nickname as a expression of affection for her. Noone, however, called her just "princess" instead of her name, it was always "Princess Luna".

Her friends liked the title, and even Miss Bellatrix, who soon heard about it, used it in conversation with parents sometimes, hoping it would give the school something of a royal prestige.

Harry couldn't think of a more fitting title for Luna. Their friendship, which had started on that afternoon when he had startled awake in Luna's armchair, had since deepend. 

Miss Bellatrix and Miss Sybill knew little about that. They did notice that Luna was friendly to the kitchen boy, but knew nothing about the wonderful moments Harry experienced in Luna's rooms after finishing his duties in record time only to run into Luna's room, let go of the heavy coalbox and fall into the armchair with a sigh of relief and happiness.

Then, stories were told that would be finished another time, or they made something to eat and hide away in pockets to take out again in the evening, when Harry was alone in his bed on the attic.

"But I have to eat really carefully, Miss" he once told Luna, "because when I drop crumbs, rats come and eat them."

"Rats!" Luna called out. "Are there really wild rats up there?" 

"Many" Harry said like it was nothing new. "There usually are some in garret rooms. Rats and mice and sometimes pixies too. You get used to them chittering in the walls. I don't mind, as long as they don't run all over my pillow and steal my clothes."

"Merlin." Luna mumbles. Thanks to her travels with her father, she might be more used to nature and wild animals than most of the students at the school, but she still never had to deal with any such creatures up-close, unsupervised and without protection charms. 

Protection charms! That gives her an idea.

"Are they stealing your things often? I don't know a spell to keep them away at all, but I could probably figure out something so no-one but you could pick up your clothes." 

_A sensible spell for a young witch to know_ , she remembers the old woman who taught her the spell in the wizarding suburbs of Beijing telling her. It had been intended to be used on the clothes on her body, but Luna doesn't want to tell Harry that. The poor boy has enough problems to think about already. 

"Oh, that would be great!" Harry says happily. "There aren't as many pixies there right now, so I managed so far, but you never know..."

Luna nods and smiles. "And the rats and mice aren't a problem?"

"I'm used to them. You get used to everything, you know" Harry says. "There's nothing else you can do when you're a servant boy. Better rats than cockroaches."

"You're right" Luna said. "It's probably easier to befriend a rat than a cockroach."

Some days, Harry didn't dare stay in the bright, warm room for longer than a few minutes. They only managed to exchange a few words these days. But no matter how quickly he was gone, he always got something edible to take with him from Luna.

The search of nourishing things that could be wrapped up small was a new idea for Luna. When she went out, she was looking at the storefronts full of excitement and eagerness. 

The first time Luna came home with two or three meat pasties, she had the feeling of just having made a great discovery. When she unwrapped them, Harry's green eyes were shining brightly. 

"Oh miss!" he exclaimed. "They'll make me really full for sure! They're the best. Cake is great, but it always melts like... Well, you know, Miss. It just doesn't stay in the stomach all that long."

"Well" Luna said slowly, "I don't think it would be so good if it stayed in there forever, but I'm sure you'll be sated for a while."

Over time, Harry lost the constant feeling of hunger that had plagued him for all his life as far as he was able to remember. He wasn't as tired anymore, either, and the coalbox soon didn't seem so horribly heavy anymore.

Seeing Luna, however, was more important to him than any pasties could ever be. Even when the time was barely enough to say hello and goodbye, there were always happy, friendly words that stayed with him. And when there was enough time, Luna continued telling a story.

It was in Luna's nature to want to help people, without making herself seem important Ober it. She had no idea how much she meant to poor Harry and what a wonderful benefactor she was for him. 

Who is giving in nature also has an open heart, and when the hands are empty, the heart stays open, and they can give from their heart: love, solace, happiness. And sometimes, friendly laughter is worth more than anything else.

Laughter had been unknown to Harry in most of his poor, hard life. Only Luna made him laugh and they laughed together a lot.

And even though Harry didn't notice, that laughter made him feel as full as the pasties and other delicacies Luna from the kitchens.

A few weeks after her eleventh birthday, Luna got a letter from her father that was different than the ones before it.

Xenophilius wasn't doing too well, apparently overworked from everything in relation to the diamonds.

 _You know, little Luna,_ he wrote, _your papa is no businessman, and numbers and documents are bothersome to him. I don't understand much of it, and it is all so overwhelmingly new. If I didn't have this fever, I wouldn't lay awake half the night tossing and turning. If my little Luna were here, she would probably give me some good, serious advice, wouldn't you?_

For her eleventh birthday, he had prepared the most beautiful gifts.

Amongst other things, she received a Comet Long-distance travelling broom- the best broom one could order. Luna had a strange feeling as she answered his letter, in which he had asked her whether the gift was to her liking.

 _I'm getting old_ , she wrote. _You know, I always wanted a 'real' broom when I still had my children's broom, but now that I have it, I keep thinking about how with it I'll never feel the magnet-like repulsive energy when I reach the five metre line. My old starfly seven will always be my last children's broom. This should be a celebration. If I was a poet, I would write a beautiful poem and call it 'a last children's broom' but I'm no good at poetry. I tried and it made me laugh. It didn't sound like Martez or Verakie or Shakespeare. Either way, I will honour my new broom, and I will give the old starfly to the younger children to play with. Who doesn't want to fly, after all?_

Xenophilius Lovegood had a raging headache when Luna's owl reached him. On the table in front of him were piles up piles of parchment and letters that unnerved him to no end- and yet, when he read this letter, he had to laugh like he hadn't in a long while.

"Oh," he said, "she gets funnier every year. By Merlin I hope that this business gets itself in order and lets me leave soon so I can visit her. What would I give to have her here now, throwing her arms around me...what would I give!"

It was supposed to be a grand birthday party. The classroom was to be decorated and it should be a party. The gifts were generous, and a magnificent dinner was to be held in Miss Bellatrix' most holy saloon.

As the day came closer, the entire school was astir. So many preparations had yet to be done! The classroom had to be decorated with garlands and live fairies, the desks put aside and turned into a lush red gallery for the presents.

When Luna went into her living room that morning, she found a small parcel on the table, wrapped in brown paper. She knew that it was a gift and she suspected who it was from.

Opening it very carefully, she saw a square pin cushion made of almost clean flannel, and in it were black pins spelling the words 'happy birthday'.

"Oh!" Luna exclaimed, feeling warm all over. "How much effort this must have cost him! I like it so, so kuch it's making me sad."

Then she halted. Under the pincushion was a card, and on the card it said in clean letters: 'Miss Sybill Trelawney'.

Luna turned it around in her hands. "Miss Sybill" she mumbled to herself, "How can that be?" 

In that moment she heard the door opening. Harry glanced inside. 

"Do you like it, Miss Luna?" he asked. "Yes?"

"Do I like it?" Luna asked. "Harry, you did this all yourself!"

Harry's eyes were wet with joy. "It's just made if flannel, and it's not even new. But I wanted to give you something. I made it at night and hope you might be able to pretend it's velvet and the pins are diamonds. I tried, when I was making it. And for of the card, Miss" he said, doubting himself, "It's not too bad that I took it from the bin? Miss Sybill threw it away. I didn't have any parchment myself and I know it's not real gift without a card. So I took Miss Sybill's."

Luna hugged him, feeling relieved. 

"Oh, Harry" she said with a dreamy smile, "I like it very much, thank you!"

"Oh Miss" Harry exclaimed. "Thank you, miss, thank you, you are too kind! It- it wasn't even new flannel."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're still here be so kind and send me some extra kudos in the comments to let me know! <3


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